Christmas is weird … but for Tim Minchin, that’s OK

Monday

Dec 10, 2012 at 7:00 PMDec 10, 2012 at 7:16 PM

Britain’s Tim Minchin is one of the funniest comedians to ever wield a piano. And I do mean “wield.” The thing is usually a comedic weapon in his hand. His appearances on TV — usually on shows that air on BBC America — are usually “must DVR” events in my book.

So when novelist Neil Gaiman posts a video by Minchin on his blog, I figure it’s something that I need to see. And when Gaiman says, “This is my favourite Xmas song. Nothing else comes close, not even the Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York.’"

My love of the Pogues is kind of monumental, so that’s very nearly fighting words.

I hit play on the video, and prepared for hilarity. It didn’t come. Instead, what I got is something soul-stirringly honest, delicate and beautiful.

The song — “White Wine In the Sun” — would be easy to paint as an atheist’s Christmas carol, but that wouldn’t be entirely fair. Minchin merely seems bemused by the whole religion thing, claiming in the song that he’s “hardly religious” but “I really like Christmas/ It’s sentimental, I know, but I just really like it.”

And yes, Minchin has his fun, particularly with the commercialization of the holiday, but his prods are gentle, and plainly stated. But it’s when he gets past that, to the meat of his affection for the holiday, that the song becomes more than a little heartbreaking.

“And you, my baby girl,” he sings, as the piano jag continues low and melancholy, “My jetlagged infant daughter/ You’ll be handed round the room/ Like a puppy at a primary school/ And you won’t understand/ But you will learn someday/ That wherever you are and whatever you face/ These are the people who’ll make you feel safe in this world.”

And in a masterful stroke, Minchin turns what could have been a pedestrian anti-religious screed into something powerful and heartwarming, a recognition that — despite different beliefs … beliefs that are often bewildering to one another — there’s something more beautiful and valuable underneath it all that’s far more compelling, a joy in love and family that’s worth celebrating. And worth getting a little sentimental about.

The song is available for download, with the proceeds going to the National Autistic Society. (Victor D. Infante)